Project Details
- Scheme & Version: BREEAM In-Use International 2016
- Certification Stage:
- Rating: Oustanding
- Overall Score: 85.4%
Project Team
- Developer / Client: Kai Shing Management Services Limited
- Architect: KPF, Wong and Ouyang (HK) Ltd.
- Constructor: Sanfield Building Contractors Limited
- Assessor Company: Allied Environmental Consultants Limited
About the Building
The International Commerce Centre (abbreviated ICC) is a 108-storey, 484 m (1,588 ft) commercial skyscraper located at 1 Austin Road West, West Kowloon, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong with total GFA of 2,822,039 sq. ft. It is a part of the Union Square project on top of Kowloon Station and is developed by Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd.
ICC is a unique development featuring a cutting-edge commercial space luxury residential development, modern retail and two 6-star hotels in a single location. This is not just a business address, but a destination – offering to Hong Kong a single location in which to live, work and play, within reach of locals and visitors alike by virtue of being located on major rail lines.
BREEAM In-Use schemes offers a holistic sustainable approach that covers various aspect of the operation of the ICC, where audits were carried out to identify any deficiencies in management aspect of the building for improvement. In result, ICC managed to score 5 out of the 7 categories scores higher than 90% with full marks under Management, Land Use & Ecology and Pollution aspect.
Based on its longstanding management approach of “ICC” – Intelligence, Collaboration and Continuity, the ICC team leverages smart technologies, such as an intelligent management system to monitor and control the operation and energy consumption of different facilities and equipment. The team utilizes Internet of Things (IoT) technology to analyse big data collected through a mobile digital system for energy efficiency optimization in the building.
Multi-level energy enhancement measures including smart control, energy metering, high efficiencies installations are being implemented throughout ICC such as chiller plant optimization, lift pattern analysis and smart control, high efficient lighting with occupancy sensors and centralize controls etc. Since 2012, through various energy saving measures, ICC has conserved 15 million kWh of energy, equivalent to the total annual electricity consumption of more than 4,500 three-member households, and a reduction of 10,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.
ICC is also constructed with double glazed with low E-coating curtain wall to achieve natural lighting for low-carbon operation. At the same time, the ICC team proactively engages the community by collaborating with tenants and stakeholders in green and energy-saving initiatives to help achieve sustainable development. With the continuous efforts of the management team, ICC is the first building in Hong Kong to be certified by BREEAM In-Use.
Environmental Challenges and Green Strategy
Under energy aspect, the credit required the project to have its common area energy separately metered with the tenant energy. However, there are parts of the common area i.e., lift lobbies where air conditioning is served by the same system and difficult to separate the energy use by submeters. Because of this reason, the team proposed several ways to exceptionally calculate the portion of landlord energy from the commingled energy consumption. And after a few rounds of iterated discussions with BRE, BRE was able to create a calculation tool that can enable the BREEAM In-Use tool to accurately estimate the energy use of high-rise building with complex active building services systems like Hong Kong.
With the help of the tool, the project was able to estimate the portion related to the common area energy consumption for BREEAM to assess against its rating tool and compared against other BREEAM In-Use certified projects.
Benefits of achieving BREEAM certification
BREEAM certification has numerous criteria that helped with long-term planning. For example, a long-term biodiversity enhancement plan has been created, where greeneries with high biodiversity values will be planted.
Furthermore, a long-term refrigerant replacement plan has also been established along with chiller retrofitting works, so that a more environmentally-friendly refrigerant can be used in the future. A holistic energy monitoring system is currently under planning in order to comprehensively monitor the energy use of the entire building.
Reaching the highest BREEAM In-Use International rating is a testament to ICC’s outstanding green management standards, which are at the top of the industry and exceed international levels. This demonstrates SHKP’s commitment to sustainable management and its success in thoroughly meeting the sustainability requirements of its environmentally conscious tenants
-Mr. Lo King-wai, General Manager (Office Leasing) of Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency
After going through the BREEAM In-Use process, the importance of having building operating data continuously monitored, logged and analysed were reiterated, including building’s consumption data, system operating parameters, air and water quality data will help the team continuous monitoring the live performance of the building but also the quickly identify the problem areas where immediate remedial can be taken at timely manner.